October 25, 2021 – Click here to listen
I went to a new church yesterday and when I walked in, I heard someone call my name. A young friendly guy walked up to me and told me he was the senior pastor and that he had known me from the church I attended in Key Largo. He used to go there too but had moved on to Islamorada and became senior pastor there. I didn’t recognize him but vaguely remembered his name.
It seemed very odd because I also attended a men’s Bible study group at another church a few miles up the road not that long ago and the exact same thing occurred. A young man whom I didn’t recognize called me by name and he too used to attend the Key Largo church when I did and since had moved on to become senior pastor his own church.
My wife and I had donated a large piece of property to the Key Largo church, and they built a beautiful worship center on it that is now the largest Protestant church in the Keys. It is too far a drive for us to regularly attend there now that we have moved to Duck Key; however, it is quite the rewarding treat when we do.
One of my fishing buddies who happens to be an atheist saw the Key Largo church signs and banners all over the road and called me yesterday and asked if I would take him and his wife with me to attend that church, and that he wanted to see it. I was thrilled about this because I have been working very hard to try and nudge him to follow Christ and it seems the Holy Spirit is inspiring him to take that first step.
My wife got an email from a friend yesterday about Honey Lake Church which we founded and built on my hunting plantation near Tallahassee. It read in part:
“Had a great service this morning at Honey Lake Church. The guest speaker was Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty. Willie gave an excellent message, and we had several give their lives to Jesus and were baptized in the lake after the picnic lunch. Having never watched Duck Dynasty I was really surprised at the awesome message Willie gave. Great morning!!”
This small church has had a host of celebrity guest speakers through the years, and many have come to know the Lord and been baptized in beautiful Honey Lake. With all that is happening in the world that is negative it is so refreshing to see the Lord still working.
I was interviewed for a documentary of Jack Murphy’s life recently and I was telling the man about my friend and hero Bill Glass and his prison ministry. More than one million inmates have made decisions to follow Christ through the years, but even more impressive over 250,000 volunteers have been trained on how to share the Gospel. Those men and women are spreading the word of God far and wide.
Murf worked hard on developing that training program and he and I had many conversations about which Scripture verses to use, the wording, and how to lay it out and I printed a number of these pamphlets and we used them for several years. There is no telling how many people have been saved and baptized through Bill and Murf’s efforts. They assembled a God team of which I was privileged to be a part and it is still active today all over the world.
I say all of this today to encourage you that God is still on the throne and a remnant is hard at work. I’m sure it is very rewarding to Bill Glass, and it was to Murf to play such a vital part in God’s plan. I’m happy I can be a small part of it as well. I wonder if someone long forgotten will approach us in heaven and say, “Hi remember me?” I think they just might, but more importantly, Jesus is watching and urging us on. I know I have broken His heart at times, but I feel sure He has smiled some too.
I pray you get to experience the love of Jesus transform someone with whom you have planted a seed into a “new creature” or otherwise influenced them. It is everyone’s purpose in life to witness to others and be a living example of the Christian life for Jesus. Think about it!
Proverbs 5:21
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and He ponders all his paths.